Syracuse, NY -- A human resources consultant estimates employees watching the three-week-long NCAA men's basketball tournament on television and via computer will cost the nation's employers $192 million in lost productivity.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. estimates that total online viewership during work hours could reach at least 8.4 million hours. The first round of the tournament begins with special qualifying games on March 15.

Multiply the number of hours by the national average hourly earnings of $22.87 among private sector workers and the financial impact exceeds $192 million, according to Challenger.

Even though it sounds like a lot of work time lost, Christmas CEO John Challenger said the amount is a drop in the bucket compared with the 3.7 billion hours the American workforce puts in weekly.

While the overall impact to the economy is minute, workers streaming video of the games on their computer will tie up company bandwidth, Challenger said.

Some companies, in order to keep employees focused and bandwidth open, block access to streaming content of all types, Challenger said.

"What's more important is how individual companies address the issue among their employees," he said.

"Rather than try to squash interest in March Madness, companies could try to embrace it as a way to build morale and camaraderie. This could mean putting televisions in the break room, so employees have somewhere to watch the games other than on the Internet. Employers might consider organizing a company-wide pool, which should have no entry fee in order to avoid ethical and / or legal questions," Challenger said.